Homage to/Homenaje a

Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Quiche Mayan

"What I treasure most in life is being able to dream. During my most
difficult moments and complex situations I have been able to dream of a
more beautiful future."

Ois Botik

"The time has come for dawn, for work to be completed,
for those who nourish and sustain us to appear, the enlightened sons, the
civilized people; the time has come for the appearance of humanity on the
surface of the Earth."

Pop Wuj

"What hurts Indians most is our costumes are considered beautiful, but it's
as if the person wearing them didn't exist."

Rigoberta Menchú was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of
her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on
respect for the rights of indigenous people.

Menchú was born into a poor Indian peasant family, and raised in
the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture in Guatemala. As a teenager, she
became involved in social reform programs of the Catholic Church and was
active in the women's rights movement. Like her father, she joined the
CUC (Committee of the Peasant Union) in 1979, after members of her family
had suffered persecution.

During the 1970s and 1980s in Guatemala, tensions between the
descendants of European immigrants and the native Indian population
increased.

At this time Menchú became active in large demonstrations,
joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, and encouraged the Indian
peasant population to resist oppression.

In 1981, because of her activism, she had to leave Guatemala and flee to
Mexico, where she organized peasants' resistance movements and was
co-founder of the United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG).

Through her life story, which was published as I, Rigoberta
Menchú and a film entitled When the Mountains Tremble,
which illustrates the struggles and sufferings of the Maya people.
Menchú also became well known in the Western world as an advocate of
Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation. Rigoberta Menchú
accepted the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize in the name of all indigenous people.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a Guatemalan leader internationally known
for her work in the promotion of the defense of human rights, peace and
Indigenous Peoples' rights. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992,
becoming the first Indigenous and the youngest person ever to receive
this distinction.

For Rigoberta Menchú Tum, this Nobel Peace Prize acknowledges
the struggles of Indigenous Peoples. It is also a symbolic recognition of
the victims of repression, racism and poverty as well as an homage to
Indigenous Women.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum was born in 1959 in the village of Chimel,
Guatemala, a community continuing the millennium-old Maya-Quiché
culture. In her youth she worked in the fields and later in the city as a
domestic employee. She lived in the midst of the injustice, misery and
discrimination suffered by the Indigenous Peoples of Guatemala. Various
members of her family were tortured and asassinated by the repressive armed
forces. Persecuted, Rigoberta was exiled to Mexico in 1980.

Self-educated, she has shown herself to be a natural leader of great
intelligence. She became an active political worker in labor, campesino
and human rights groups as well as in the defense and promotion of the
rights and values of Indigenous Peoples. In 1983 her testimonial book,
I, Rigoberta Menchú, An Indian Woman in Guatemala, was published, followed by various of her texts and poems.

Through her work, Rigoberta has received world wide recognition and
several honorary doctorates. In 1993, she was nominated by the United
Nations as Goodwill Ambassador for the International Year of the Indigenous
Peoples. At present, she is the Promoter of the International Decade of
Indigenous Peoples, mandated by the General Assembly of the United Nations
and was also appointed to be the personal advisor to the general director
of UNESCO. Concurrently she presides over the Indigenous Initiative for
Peace.

Goals of the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation

In view of the urgent need for change in our society, the Rigoberta
Menchú Tum Foundation looks to contribute in the following ways:

Prevention of conflicts, mediation for the negociated solution of
conflicts. Preservation of peace. Development, social justice, diversity
and plurality as a base for peace. Support of Indigenous communities
affected by conflict.

Promotion of human rights.

Respect for life, social justice and democracy. Civil, political,
cultural, economic and social rights.

Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Land, culture, liberty, sovereignty, education, development of an
integral community, health care, access to national and international
instruments of justice, community rights over individual rights.

Values of Indigenous Peoples.

Promotion of their world view. Culture, ethics, history, harmony
with nature, respect for diversity, refusal of racism, discrimination
and subordination.

Women´s rights.

Rights specific to the Indigenous woman, right to full participation,
to take part in all decisions that concern them, equality in all areas,
health care, education, culture, identity, right to own land and the right
to organize.

Rights of children and youth as a guarantee of the future.

Better quality of life, health care, multilingual and multi-cultural
education, the right to progress.

Development.

Right to options of development with respect to the cultural values and
traditions of the communities. Development with social justice. Right to
sustainable development. Dignified quality of life.

To support the communication and relationship between the different
Indigenous Peoples. Help to obtain support for projects of different
Indigenous communities of the world.

International Decade of Indigenous Peoples Worldwide

Active promotion and participation in the development of the
International Decade of Indigenous Peoples Worldwide declared by the UN
in December of 1994.

Promote and divulge the causes, values and rights of Indigenous Peoples
to stimulate concrete actions that support the initiatives of said people
in order to improve their conditions of life and preserve their cultural
identity.

In Guatemala, the Foundation carries out projects directed at education,
health care, and human rights, with an emphasis on citizen's civil rights.
In the area of community development, its projects involve housing and
urban planning, as well as agricultural production. In the field of rights
and values of Indigenous Peoples, the Foundation makes efforts to strengthen
the unity between different groups of Indigenous Peoples, to promote their
mutual cooperation and reflection on their rights and values.

The support of the Indigenous Initiative for Peace is one of
the Foundation's priorities. As a base for the establishment of democracy,
peace and reconciliation in Guatemala, the Foundation is devoting a special
effort on civic education to encourage citizen participation.

The Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation has received and continues to
receive technical and financial support from governmental and
non-governmental entities. Countries such as: Germany, Australia,
Belgium, Canada, Spain, the United States, France, Greenland, Holland,
Italy, England, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

In addition, it maintains important cooperative relations with various
organisms of the United Nations as well as with other international
institutions.

The Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation is aiding the return of
Indigenous Guatemalans exiled since the early eighties in the southeast of
Mexico. This return process was initiated in 1993; since then, thousands
have returned to Guatemala. The Foundation provides technical and
operational assistance in the acquisition of their new land. It also
develops projects relating to housing, education, health care, farming and
training as well as specific projects for Indigenous women and children.

In Guatemala, the Foundation is contributing to the expression of human
rights through the campaign for civil participation and education for
democracy and peace.

The Foundation's work is also largely aimed toward social justice and
improved quality of life for the population of Guatemala, especially for
Indigenous communities.

On the international level, the Foundation has played a major role in the
Summits of Indigenous Leaders; through its president, it has participated
in efforts to promote the peaceful solution of controversies and conflicts
that affect Indigenous Peoples. It is also actively working toward the
inclusion and the defense of Indigenous Peoples' claims within international
institutions.